Bite-Sized Bits of News From Around Puget Sound

U.S. Hatcheries Must Clip Fins: Recent legislation requires that all federal and federally funded salmon and steelhead hatcheries mark the fish they release. For several years, a program for marking fish produced in hatcheries has allowed anglers to fish for salmon and steelhead, keeping the hatchery fish and releasing the wild fish—a method known as selective fishery. Legislation introduced by U.S. Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., and signed into law by President Bush requires the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to begin mass marking fish, including coho, chinook and steelhead, released from federally operated or financed hatcheries. (03/03/03), Olympian,http://www.theolympian.com/home news/20030303/southsound/13252.shtml.From Tidepool.org.

State Sets Deadlines for Hanford Trash Cleanup: The state set deadlines on March 11 to try to force the U.S. Department of Energy to clean up thousands of barrels of radioactive trash buried at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The department must have in place by the end of June 2012 facilities for storing, treating and processing transuranic waste generated at Hanford since 1970, the state Department of Ecology said. It must submit a detailed plan and schedule for doing that by next Aug. 31. (03/12/03), Seattle P-I, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/112163_hanfordxx12.shtml. From Tidepool.org.

New “Junk Mail Kit” Helps Prevent Waste: A new brochure from the Whatcom County Solid Waste Division helps individuals reduce the amount of unwanted mail they receive. The “Junk Mail Kit” offers six suggestions for reducing bulk mail and includes two post cards pre-addressed to the nation’s major direct-mail clearing houses. By using these tools to remove names from mailing lists, county residents can detect a reduction in unwanted mail in as little as three months. For more information about reducing unwanted mail or other waste prevention tips, call the Whatcom County-sponsored Recycling Hotline at 360-676-5723. Be sure to ask for a free copy of the new “Junk Mail Kit.”

Bellingham Herald Downplays Peace Rally, Gives Press to Noisy Truckers: Why did The Bellingham Herald cover the noisy pro-war truck procession in Bellingham (see front page article Sunday, March 30, “Hundreds of pro-military truckers roll downtown in show of support”) and not mention the hundreds of peace activists who marched for over a mile on foot? Do 276 consumptive trucks constitute “hundreds” while the over-330 people who quietly marched constitute “not worth a mention in The Herald?” Demand an answer. Why was the march by people who wish to bring our troops home from a messy war ignored?

Did You Know About the Colorado Plateau?: The Colorado Plateau of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico contains one of the greatest concentrations of prehistoric ruins and rock art in the world. Learn more from the Redrock Wilderness fast facts: http://www.savebiogems.org/redrock/fastfacts.asp.

Bear Facts: Are They Hemmed In?: To survive, grizzlies need large areas of wild country and isolation. In the Yellowstone National Park area, the home range of a typical adult female encompasses some 450 square miles, that of an adult male up to 900. For more bear facts, visit the Yellowstone BioGem: http://www.savebiogems.org/yellowstone/fastfacts.asp.

State Senate Eases Trapping Ban: The state Senate voted yesterday to drastically loosen Washington’s voter-approved ban on most animal trapping. Senate Bill 5179 would allow the use of body-gripping traps to address animal problems, for scientific research and for population control. The fur of animals trapped for those reasons could be sold. That repeals most of Initiative 713, which banned the use of such traps to capture any mammal for recreation or commerce in fur. The initiative’s backers—mostly the Humane Society of the United States—argued the traps were cruel and inhumane. Nearly 55 percent of voters agreed, passing the initiative in November 2000. (03/07/03), Seattle P-I, http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/111422_trap07.shtml. From Tidepool.org.

B.C. Must Research Fish Disease, Study Says: British Columbia needs a veterinary research centre to manage fish health if it hopes to minimize diseases threatening wild and farm salmon in the marine environment, says a B.C. government white paper released Wednesday. The paper arises from a workshop earlier this year that focused on health risks to salmon from a viral disease known as IHN (full name: Infectious Hematopoeitic Necrosis) which has infected fish farms, particularly those raising Atlantic salmon. The paper’s authors, including Grace Karreman of Pacific Marine Veterinary Services in Nanaimo, describe the current state of fish health research in B.C. as fragmented. They say a coordinated approach, similar to one in Atlantic Canada where all fish health research is channeled through a single agency, would benefit both wild and farm fish. (03/06/03), Vancouver Sun, http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/story.asp?id From Tidepool.org. §